Big Ole Training

Today was a wonderful day, as it marked the day that Kouma would begin his special training, all starting in the training grounds at the water gardens in the star village. He was currently in his home, a small two bedroom apartment that seemed to combine a fairly small kitchen with an equal sized living area or den, whichever people preferred to call it. There was also only a single bathroom in the house, which did not contain a shower, only a bath, but that was perfectly fine for the young ninja in training, Kouma. He did not really have any strange feeling of inferiority or poverty, as he and his mother lived in the house together, and he assisted his mother in day to day living every day, but today, he was absolved of most of this responsibility, as he was going to start a hard core training method with a personal trainer in the star village. This personal trainer was one that was allied to their family for many years, although his father ha betrayed them, the old man did not, thinking that his father was extremely terrible for leaving such a burn scar on his own son's face, and attempting to steal the secrets of their clan from his mother, and he had helped them out quite a bit. He was a shinobi of the village, and a rather successful one too, as he had quite a bit of money, and he even attempted to purchase a house for them, or at least pay for some sort of medical procedure to give his mother a prosthetic leg, but his mother refused, saying that it was too much of a burden, and that she was waiting until Kouma made one for her himself, as this was far more fitting for their tiny family, to rely on each other instead of outside influences, plus they both shared the same mind set of not being indebted to others and paving their own way through life and success. Kouma realized that this was what his mother was hinting at, so he also refused the old man's money when he talked about it with him in secret, and instead asked if the old man would train him in various methods until he was strong enough to make his own way in the ninja world, to which the old man was ecstatic about, and agreed immediately.

The old man was greatly involved in their family, and was almost like a grand father to Kouma, and so he wanted to help them out in any way that he could, so he was completely elated when he saw that Kouma wanted to be trained. He was a chuunin of the village, and although this was most likely the highest he could get as he had focused on other things, if it was in terms of training a ninja, he was one of the best and most experienced. He had taught at the academy for many years before retiring, and he knew hoe to train the body and chakra control to its limits making his teaching invaluable for some one like Kouma, as he would benefit immensely from the teaching of this kindly old man of the star village. This had all been decided on a couple of days before, as the old man was very excited, and had told Kouma that they were going to train on this day, as he still needed to gather a bunch of materials like training dummies, practice swords, and things of that nature before he could officially call it training. Today was the day, and Kouma had gotten up earlier than he usually did, and immediately started making his mother breakfast. He always cooked for his mother since the accident, so this was something like a calming morning ritual for Kouma, as he loved cooking, and loved to cook for his mother even more. The smile on her face when she tasted some of his cooking, which was as genuine as they come, made Kouma's heart all warm and fuzzy, as he loved doing things for his mother.

He had told his mother that the next few weeks would be very difficult for the both of them, Kouma because he was going to go through with such intense training, and as a result of this, he could not really do anything else for his mother during this time, especially not the strenuous stuff, as he was most likely to be dead tired from all of the training, as the first couple of weeks Kouma would work on his physical abilities with the help of the old man that was going to be his master for the foreseeable future. Kouma would take this time to make his mother an extravagant breakfast, making sure that it was sweet, almost like there was some sort of celebration happening, as he would officially start his journey on the path to becoming a ninja, at least in his mind. He had gone through the academy prior, but this did not mean he was actually ready, he had taken a couple of years off of training since he had been to the academy, and so he was going to make sure that he absolutely crushed any expectations that his mother had for him, no matter how high they were, and make her proud. This would require his blood, sweat, and tears, and of course would require that he do something quite unnatural to others, which was utilize the dead. He was not ready to be completely taught the sacred rites yet, and he would come back to his mother's side for training in that aspect when he was read7y for it. For now, he would dedicate himself to something that was a bit more complicate,d but something that Kouma had an interest in since he was eight years old, and that was puppets.

Kouma realized he was getting ahead of himself as he was making the crepes that he would feed his mother and himself for breakfast that day, and so he shook those thoughts out of his head before coming back to the task at hand. He had already made the thin batter for the crepes, and as his pan heated up, he was concentrating on the filling. He knew his mother always enjoyed the winter berries, and seeing as how it was that time of the year, all of those berries were in season, and this would make a great filling. He prepared all of the berries before washing them and placing them in a bot to turn into a jam slowly. He was working through all of this with smooth, practiced movements, as this was the thing in his life that he had repeated the most, which was cooking. He got very focused when he was cooking or tinkering with something, and you had to shake him out of it for him to realize he was in a daze when doing these things, which might cause some sort of mishap, which had happened a couple of times before, but it was nothing serious, and Kouma liked that he could get so excited for something that while doing it he could block out the rest of the world for a bit. As he was waiting for the berries to turn into jam, the griddle he had been heating was finally to temp, as he hovered his hand over it and sensed that it was quite hot, and it was time to actually make the crepes.

This was a process that had to be handled fast and accurately, as any mistiming would burn the crepes and they would become unusable, and he wanted only the best for his mother. For some reason, the first crepe and pancake was always a wash, and it seemed that it always turned out poorly, so Kouma did not worry one bit about that part and simply poured the first one into the oiled griddle, waited a few moments, and then took out the crepe. It was thin, but misshapen and discolored, which was strange, but Keita already predicted this happening, so he simply tossed it on to a plate that he had prepared on the side and continued making more crepes, which came out fairly decently, until all of the batter that he had prepared was gone. All in all, he had made about ten crepes, but only around half of them he had dubbed worthy for his mother to eat, as they were the best looking ones. He checked on the berries and they had condensed down and became a thick jam, which was perfect for what he was about to do next, which was add the cream so that it would become even more rich and sweet. Assembling the crepes with the two fairly simple ingredients was easy as well, before he dusted them with icing sugar and started to head towards his mother's room. He had gotten a small serving tray for these occasions, and his mother would sometimes not want to leave the bed with her single leg and a cane, so it was easy to serve her food with the tray in bed, and his mother was a very careful eater, so he could not even remember the last time they had to clean something out of here, and because of this there was no reason not to simply eat sitting up in bed.

Kouma enjoyed the feeling he got when he opened the door to his mother's room, only to see her awake, earlier than usual, staring kindly at him. He asked his mother what she was doing up so early, and a warm fuzzy feeling that made Kouma want to shed tears welled up inside him when his mother said that there was no way she was missing his big first day of the training. They talked and ate, mostly talked about his training, and she assured him that he did not need to become a ninja, and that they could just live quietly  with his previous dream of making puppets and other things of that nature, but he decided that he was going to do so in order to protect her for as long as he could, and for that he needed power. The only real way to get power was to become a higher up in the village and get money by becoming a ninja. Since he did not want to die, and he did not want her to be in danger either, he was going to make sure that he was strong enough to block everything for his mother, even if it meant that he would not be safe himself. Besides, he did not want the legacy of the Yamaguchi to be lost in time, and wanted to make a name for himself and the clan that gave him this ability, although he had yet to be taught the sacred rites, he still knew some what of its power. They had finished eating, and although he wanted to spend a bit more time with his mother, he needed to make sure he was early to his training, or at least not late at all, so that he could show his old man teacher that he was indeed ready and willing for something harsh.

Kouma ran to the training grounds as the sun was just barely creeping over the horizon, dying the sky orange and light blue, as the night time was slowly washed away by the renewing light of the sun. Kouma made it to the water gardens, which was a beautiful place that was filled with ponds, decorated statues, and flowing fountains that made it a near celestial place amongst the village. Next to the water gardens, or inside of them depending on who you asked, there was a large training field filled with ponds, targets, and crates filled with basic weapons that had been dulled for use by the younger ninja of the village. Deeper into the training field there was a large strip of land that had some sort of reinforced concrete or slabs of chakra infused stone that was covered in a great number of cracks and black spots, where the older generation would be practicing jutsu that were too destructive to be used closer to the actual water gardens, or near the younger generation of academy students or genin. Today, Kouma was meeting at the very front of the training ground, and there, sat an old man in what appeared to be a training outfit consisting of a light weight tank top and some sweat pants. He had a whistle hanging around his next, and no hair, his face covered in wrinkles and his eyes were a bit gaunt and partially closed. From a distance, it seemed like he was sleeping while standing up, but he had one leg propped up against a box filled with some unknown items.

Kouma ran up to the old man before bowing towards him, greeting him and asking when they would get started. The old man smirked, before patting the crate at his feet, telling Kouma to look inside and put on the equipment in there. Kouma had some thoughts in mind, and thought that maybe there was something like a training outfit that the old man had gotten, but he was still cautious about it, so he wanted to make sure that he knew what he was getting into before doing something like thanking this old man for his generosity. Inside there seemed to be some sort of bands that went over his wrists and ankles, and then another sort of weighted vest or something that seemed to be for him as well. He sighed, and assumed that he was going to be in for a long and harsh day, but still nodded to the old man full of enthusiasm, before putting on all of the available equipment, and feeling quite heavy. Now was not the time to regret, however, as he simply thought about his mother, which made him forget about complaining and forgetting about trying to make this easier on himself. He was making sure that he did everything properly, looking at the weights which were on his arms and legs, and the feeling of the vest that was on his chest, and started to do a couple of stretches, getting slightly used to the new weight that was piled up on to his body. With this inspiration in mind, he looked at his old man teacher for the next set of instructions.

The old man teacher simply looked at him with a sinister grin, and if Kouma did not know any better, he would think that the old man was going to abduct him and sell him off to some slave trader. But nothing like that happened, and instead the old man teacher told him one simple word that Kouma would remember forever, as this would be the most difficult thing he would do in his young life, which was the word: run. Kouma looked around and waited for a couple of moments, wondering if there were any other instructions or maybe directions on where to run to, but the old man just sat there with a shit eating grin on his face, waiting for Kouma to start running. Not wanting to be some one who could not even follow basic instructions on his first day of training, Kouma glanced around the training area, before mentally planning a route for him in his head that he would consider a lap. He then stretched his legs a bit, before starting to run. The old man kept harrying him, telling him to run faster and that he was not going fast enough, and that they would be here all day if he was going to walk around lazily, which only fueled the fire in Kouma's legs when he almost sprinted every so often, making him extremely sore in a short time.

He had never ran with weights on before, and the extra weight was not only throwing off his rhythm while running, but it was also making his calves and things work over time to compensate for the extra weight on his body, and all he could think about as he was running was how glad he was that his parents did not make him fat by over eating, as this would be a terrible fate for anyone wanting to lose the weight quickly. and lose it quickly they would, as Kouma was sweating a large amount of the liquid out of his body, and every so often his teacher would toss him a small bottle of water so he could re hydrate, which was terrible while running and out of breath. The whole experience was miserable as he made his way around the training field, making his way all the way towards the side of the field usually occupied by the seniors, and they had chuckled at him running so doggedly around the area while an old man yelled at him, but Kouma did not care. Although he was a bit embarrassed, this did not make his will falter, as he was someone that was going to plow through any obstacles, and he simply considered this one of them in his life. As he kept running, he started to get a bit of a runner's high, and totally forgot the screaming pain in his legs or about how absolutely out of breath he was becoming, and he simply kept running.

He started to slow down gradually, but he was in his special zone of concentration that he usually only got in when he was tinkering with something or making food for his mother, but this time he was doing it for training, and this made him a bit weak in the knees when he caught himself doing it and essentially came out of the trance. He had to suddenly stop and take big gasping breaths, before slightly vomiting on the ground next to him, as this was a bit too much from someone who barely worked out every week, to going this hard on their own body, but he was still ready to continue. The old man put a hand on his shoulder and told him that that would be all for today, and pointed to the sky, showing that the sun was close to setting. He had been running for hours, only taking breaks to gasp for air and take a quick breather before going at it again because of this strange state of concentration tat Kouma seemed to get into some times. The old man knew about this, and wanted to see if he could increase the speed and efficiency of the training by taking advantage of this kid's strange countenance, and for the first day it seemed like a success. He needed to make sure that the only side effects were sore muscles, as any sort of intense training without rest would result in damage to the body, unless of course they had access to a medical ninja, which the old man did have, he would just need to call in a favor every once in a while, so he was fine with pushing this young boy Kouma to his limits in a short while.

It seemed like the training for today was over, and Kouma removed the weights slowly and strenuously, before placing them back into the crate the old man had prepared previously, still panting a bit for  every little bit of air his body could get, as he was seriously exhausted. He wondered if he could make it home, and what would happen tomorrow, if they would do the same thing or not, and this made him a mixture of excited and terrified at the thought of doing something this strenuous every day for the foreseeable future, as he was going to die at this rate, and currently did not know that if he started slipping in his training that he was going to get healed by a medical ninja, just to be tortured with this training again and again. Kouma slowly made his way back home in a sort of daze, as he was too exhausted, and thought that if he was concentrating on how sore he was too much, that he would simply fall to the ground and go to sleep in a gutter somewhere or an alleyway. He did not have any ryo on him and the star village was definitely safe, but it was still not something any self respecting person would want to wake up to. He finally heaved himself inside of his house and immediately passed out, falling fast asleep in the doorway out of his small apartment. As he came too, it was in the early morning hours, before the sun had even poked up in front of the surroundings, and there was complete darkness around him. He felt fairly comfortable, until he tried moving, and all of the soreness in his muscled flared up, causing him to groan in a low voice.

He was still alert to his surroundings, and had to try his best not to let out a louder grunt of pain so that he would not wake up his mother. With that, he crawled into his bed, and he had already set an alarm for the following day, so there was nothing to worry about. Trying his best to forget about the burning of all of his muscles, he slowly fell asleep properly in his bed this time, at least for a couple more hours. This time, when his alarm went off and he had woken up, he was not quite happy about it, but he was still cautiously optimistic about today and the training. He was told by his old man teacher the day before that he was going to be training cardio like this until it did not make him sore anymore, as cardio was the foundation of a ninja, and they needed to be able to last in any sort of high stress situation more than anything, so that was what was going to be built up first for Kouma, so that he could fulfill his dream of becoming a powerful ninja. Kouma woke up feeling rather refreshed, although every muscle of his body felt like it had been pulled by a taffy machine. He stumbled a few times walking out of his apartment door in the morning because of how sore his muscles were, he had accidentally put too much weight on one of his legs, and the soreness of the muscles caused him to fall slightly, before catching himself with his arms, which caused him another kind of sore pain in the morning. It was pretty damn painful just to get to the training field in the morning. He had talked with his mother before this about how he was going to leave before she woke up, and come home after she had fallen asleep for about a week or so, so he had not talked to her since a day before yesterday at this point.

As he made his way to the training field like a drunk old man wandering the streets, he got plenty of strange looks, but he did not feel like explaining it to random people at this point if they did not ask. There were a couple of people that were curious enough to stop him for a moment and speak about what was happening, and they were all fairly concerned for him, but happy that it was nothing serious and that he was just really sore from intense training. Some of them became disinterested at this point, but there were a few that told him to be careful and to not push himself so hard. He thanks them for their kind words and worry, but he had a lot of confidence in the old man as his teacher and trainer for this week or so, so he was going to go ahead and ignore the advice of these people for now. He finally made it to the field after a dozen or so minutes, and he was glad that he left early to get to the field, as the delays from how sore he was combined with the fact that he was delayed by the people that asked him questions about what he was doing, and he did not want to ignore them and hurry because of his earnest personality, he was barely on time. The old man trainer was a bit surprised that he had managed to get here on time, but he did not tell Kouma that, as it was better to keep a more grounded and tough role as a trainer than it was to try to cater to the person that he was trying to toughen up. He decided that he was going to chastise Kouma for almost being late, as this would likely cause him to toughen up faster, and allow the teacher to hopefully motivate Kouma to try harder in the future, as he would want to impress him, or due to Kouma's character, not disappoint his trainer and teacher. Either scenario worked for the old man, so it did not matter whether or not Kouma started to dislike him, he wanted to help him train, and training was not fun, nor was it fair most of the time, just like life, so he wanted to drill that concept into his head early.

The old man trainer once again patted the crate full of the training weights, much to Kouma's chagrin, before nodding towards Kouma so that the latter could put the weights on again and start running. This time, the old man just sort of stared at Kouma as he tried, painstakingly, to put every thing on without hurting himself from how sore he was, or trip and fall while putting on the leg weights or the vest, as they were particularly heavy today for some reason to Kouma. After putting every thing on, Kouma was already winded, but he stuck through it, looking at his teacher, this old man, hoping that he would say some thing other than run, but alas, expectations often did not mesh well with reality, and the word that Kouma dreaded the most came out of his mouth, making Kouma feel like he had picked the wrong profession for a moment, before he dragged his feet forward in an effort to start running. Today, he had to build up his momentum to actually be able to get a good jog going, and there would be no actual running today, which the trainer made sure that he knew, as the old man kept berating him for going slow, and wondered who the old person was, him or Kouma, and other such insults. Kouma of course did not take these things to heart, as it was just something that trainers and the like used to motivate those under them, but Kouma still got a little mad at the statements, and this made him run just a little bit faster, and push himself just that little bit more forward that he needed to really push his limits. He was getting stronger at a noticeable pace, and this was not just because he was a bit talented, he actually truly wanted to get stronger, no matter the cost of physical pain or discomfort.

He once again left the training field when the sky was dark and deep into the night, the lanterns outside of the houses were the only illumination, because this time it took Kouma a lot longer to actually go home. He was basking in the after glow of being so worn out that he vomited on the field, and his legs were essentially jelly. It took him nearly three times as long to actually get home, but he like the experience, because the old man said that he would not be training tomorrow, at least his body, and he would learn how to eat properly and upkeep his mind by using chakra control techniques. He had learned about chakra control techniques in the academy, as he had learned the surface walking technique and he was very good at it, but there was something else that helped him train his chakra control that the old man knew that he did not, and he was excited to learn it. He had prepared a pen and some paper for this particular outing, and he seemed to have a special sentimental value to the first words or sentence one wrote into a particular note book, as these would be a special wording or phrase that would dictate what the whole thing was about. He got this way because the village had a large archive of books, and although he was not able to access the sensitive information, the musings and memoirs of famous ninja were kept there, and the first page or phrase in their books were always profound, or at least had a certain charm to them, like reading the first page of the first hokage's journal would most likely have cultural and societal implications to it that would make one feel as if they could understand the feelings of a great man from the past. Kouma stopped fantasizing about what tomorrow would bring, before collapsing on his bed and instantly falling asleep, as even a wandering mind could not bring him back from the depths of his exhaustion.

It was now the third day of this extreme training regimen, and on this day, the old man trainer told Kouma that he would be getting a rest day to focus on his mind and chakra network instead, as the body needed rest to actually repair itself, and today was one of those days. Kouma greatly appreciated this, and headed to the training field with a spring in his step and an excited and inquisitive mind, as he was ready to delve into the secrets or lack there of of expanding his chakra network and training his chakra control. Control over ones chakra was one of the most vital skill a ninja could have, unless one wanted to focus entirely on the physical body or weapons, as most of the things that ninja did required chakra control, from not exhausting ones self from using too many ninjutsu techniques, to controlling their chakra better to put people into illusions known as genjutsu, chakra control was essentially the most important thing a shinobi could do with their time, but Kouma recognized that he needed to build his foundation of his body first, as a broken cup held no liquid. So with an excited face but an exhausted to all hell body, Kouma walked over to his trainer, and for some reason the old man trainer still had the crate that Kouma was slowly learning to hate, by his side. As Kouma was walking over and glancing at the crate, a bad feeling started to creep up in to his heart as his eyes could not leave the box. He was sure that they were going to do chakra training today, so why was the damned box here, was what Kouma was thinking at the time. The old man trainer patted the crate once again, and this was the signal to put on all of the weights, and Kouma looked at him quizzically. He really wanted to question the old man on why he was forcing him to wear the weighted clothing again if all they were doing was chakra training, but this made him feel like he was complaining, so he simply sighed and put on his weighted training clothing.

As he put on all of those weighted training clothing, he looked very betrayed, but he was waiting for the word to run, which actually never came. The old man chuckled and said that Kouma could calm down, as he was not going to be running today, as they were going to do the chakra training as promised. That did not mean that Kouma could slack off with his weight training, however, as simply wearing them while doing every thing would strengthen him a little bit and make sure that he was getting used to the weighted vest so that it would not completely destroy his muscles the next time he worked out heavily in them. Still, it did not seem to be any type of training to Kouma, as it was nothing but pain, but he put them on regardless, and the old man trainer then led him towards a small pond off to the side of the training field, and soon they were sitting next to it, with the old man explaining the chakra training to the young man Kouma. The old man explained that chakra control was about moving and manipulating the chakra in certain ways, and the more proficient you became in this, the less chakra that you would waste when you actually went through with utilizing jutsu. The person with the higher chakra control would have an easier time fighting in a long drawn out fight compared to someone who had a lot of chakra and poor control. The method that the old man trainer told Kouma to start learning was a farily simple one, and that was to train with the weights while standing on the water and utilizing the water surface walking technique. In addition to this, the old man talked about guiding the chakra through the body around the tenketsu points until it had made a full loop, and the faster one could do this while being precise, the better control over the chakra one would have. And so there was now the methodology and the lake for Kouma to start his chakra training, not only expanding the amount of chakra he had access to, but also the ability to increase his chakra control, and so he slowly and cautiously stepped out onto the large pond in front of him, while also channeling the water surface walking technique so that he would not immediately sink into the pond.

As he stepped onto the water, the extra weight on his body and legs specifically caused him to almost fall right into the water, as he needed more weight on the soles of his feet, but less chakra on the sides of his feet, and so while Kouma was trying to regulate the chakra on his feet, he accidentally fell into the pond. He put on a determined face and stepped out of the pond onto the shore, before trying again. This time he lasted about ten or so seconds and even tried taking a step, before the chakra around his feet became unstable and then fell right into the pond, this time a bit deeper. Kouma started to feel frustrated, but simply took a deep breath as his old man trainer once told him to do when he was feeling flustered, and he focused his mind. After several breaths, Kouma was more determined than ever, and he decided that he was going to go patiently, and simply wait until he could simply stand there in the pond with the massive amount of extra weight on him without falling in, and then he would take steps slowly after that. It was almost as if he was transported back into the academy, and he had to go through learning the water surface walking technique again, as the weight distribution was so different. He also needed to make sure that he could go back to not having this extra weight on him, without failing to regulate his chakra. This was a challenge in and of itself, so there were a lot of things going on in Kouma's mind right now, and this caused his chakra control to go out of whack for a moment, which caused him to fall into the pond again. He still had a bit of chakra to spare, so he simply picked him self back up and got back to the shore of the pond again, simply saying that it was his fault for not concentrating enough to his old man teacher. The teacher simply nodded at him, and every once in a while, there would be a time where the old man trainer would write something down with his pen on his clip board, as if he was taking notes as he was studying how to make Kouma's training more efficient.

After a few more tries, Kouma could now indefinitely stand on the surface of the pond with the extra weight without the threat that he would accidentally fall into it, so he was now confident and ready for the next step. The only problem was, that because this was intense training and he had never really trained his chakra capacity before this, he was running really low on chakra, and so he had to take a break. He was going to keep going, but his trainer checked on him and told him that he would take a break, and make sure that he sat down and increased the amount of chakra he had. there would be a time when he would have enough chakra and chakra control to where he would not need frequent breaks, but now was not the time, and so the old man told him to sit on the ground and do the same thing with his chakra as he was doing on the water surface walking technique, which was to cycle his chakra through his body in a loop, but this time trying to go as slow as possible, as this would still train his chakra control, but be gentle and slow enough to where he would still regenerate his chakra at a stable rate, and this would also gently put pressure on his tenketsu points, expanding them slightly, which would increase the amount of chakra he had access to after doing this over and over again for the next few weeks. This was some thing of a reprieve for Kouma, as the previous training was some thing that stretched his muscles and made him even more sore, so now simply sitting on the ground in the lotus position concentrating his chakra seemed to be a bit of a relaxation period for him, as he had to concentrate on the inside of his body with his eyes closed, slowly forcing his chakra through his body, slowly going through his head, then his shoulders, arms, thighs, legs, and then finaly to the tops of his feet, before reversing this flow through the other half of his body, forming a sort of loop through his body. He was very shaky at first, as this process was very slow, and he was fairly inaccurate, not quite pushing the chakra to the places that he thought that he should, and the old man seemed to be looking at him as well.

The old man explained that he simply had to feel for this by himself, as the old man had no idea what was going on inside of Kouma's body, as he did not have anything like the byakugan that let him see the flow of chakra inside of someone. There was a right way to do it for each person, and so he had to determine that himself based on his feeling. Kouma knew he was doing it incorrectly, but he did not really know how he was supposed to do it, so he simply needed to rely on experimentation for the most part, as there was nothing that could see into his body and tell him the correct method to do something like this. He could probably do this if he was guided by some sort of hyuuga with a byakugan that could see into his tenketsu points and notice the minute details of what was happening inside so that he could correctly fix the special loop that he was forming, but something like that was unavailable to him at the moment, so he simply tried to muddle through it. He kept practicing for a while until he could feel that his chakra reserves were back up to nearly full, and then decided to go for the water surface walking training again, as this time he had a better understanding of the loop, so that he could make it go a little faster and more efficient. He stepped onto the pond once again, this time showing no signs of being unstable, and no signs of his chakra going out of control, as he took step after step, slowly in a rhythmic circle around the pond. At first he was slow, and the loop that he made with his chakra in his body was also slow, but soon, he would slightly pick up the pace. he was confident in not falling over when he was standing still, but when he started to walk fairly quickly, there were a lot of chances for small mistakes, that when they were added together there was enough to send him toppling over the edge, and so he fell right into the pond water, in the center of the pond this time. he knew how to swim, so this was normal not a problem, but he failed to remember that at this time, he was wearing a large amount of extra weight, so he sank like a stone.

Kouma panicked for a split second, wondering why he suddenly sank, as he was slowly forgetting that he had the weighted vest on, as he was getting more and more used to it being on his body, and so he forgot and now he was at the bottom of the pond, and no matter how he flailed his arms to swim, nothing happened. He calmed himself down for a moment while letting out a bit of his breath, and then remembered that he was inside of a rather large pond, and so he could simply walk out. Under the water it was pretty blurry, so he could not really see what was going on, but as he was walking towards the edge of the pond from the bottom, he saw a small figure pop into the pond from the surface of the pond on the far side, and he recognized it as the head of the old man trainer, probably checking on him to make sure that he was not in any danger. Kouma slowly walked to the edge of the pond, and grabbed an out stretched hand that the old man had put into the surface of the water to assist him in getting out, and soon he was simply gasping for breath and bit, although he was fine. He had a higher conditioned body than others, and he had been training his chakra control, so he could hold his breath for quite a while before needing to breath, and this was fairly close to his limit, but not quite there yet. Kouma continued the training after getting a bit of a rest, as this was something that was going to happen frequently during this training, so he might as well get used to it while he could, and while he was in a confident, happy, and excited state of mind. He liked this sort of training, it was harsh, but so was the ninja world, so there was no reason not to do this. He had heard rumors of other nations training their genin in a way that some of them would be killed during, and while Kouma was confident that he would not die, a training like that simply did not suit the current him. So, Kouma continued this loop of his for the rest of the day, and it was much less of a harsh thing happening to his body, so his body mostly got a much needed rest and recuperation, although it was still incredibly sore.

As he headed back towards his house for the day, he was a bit earlier than normal, as he could do the chakra loop while he was walking, although it was far less efficient than if he had been doing it while sitting down and concentrating on it, but it was better than nothing. Eventually it would be second nature to him to continue practicing this when he was doing everything, and this would make it so he was constantly gaining chakra control and more chakra capacity, so this was something he wanted to engrave into his psyche so that his body and mind would essentially do this stuff automatically. He made it to his house a bit earlier than normal as he thought, and his mother was getting ready for bed. He was a bit dirty from the pond water drying on his body and clothing, and he looked disheveled from all of the times he had fallen in the pond, so he cut a sorry figure to his mother, who was only used to seeing her son being pristine and clean, not to mention happy when her son now looked sort of exhausted, although it was not a look of sadness or depression. Him and his mother simply looked at each other, before his mother walked over and simply hugged him. He told her to wait a bit because he was going to bathe to get this dirt and grim from the past couple of days off of him, but she would not let him go, nor did she say anything, she simply hugged him and comforted him, and herself a bit, before letting him go and telling him good night, and to not over do it. Kouma had to hold back the tears in his eyes, as he knew how much his mother loved him and worried about him, and how much this was most likely killing her inside that he was doing something that was so hard on himself, and that he was becoming someone that was going to go and risk his life for the sake of his village, and potentially have to kill other people. She was more in line with killing people, as she was a part of a clan that dabbled in necromancy and spirits, so there was something with that that sat fine with her, but she did not like that her wonderful little boy was going to become more of a harsh person that could kill people without batting an eye.

This day was the actual break day, where Kouma would do absolutely nothing other than walking around and channeling the chakra loop that he was going to practice forever from now on, for the entirety of the day, well other than the other chores and things he was going to do today. He was going to hang out with his mother and make her food like he usually did, and this time he was going to make her some lunch. He was not sure what they had in the fridge for him to make her, but he was going to take a long look and figure it out. They had some noodles, some left over chicken and some left over beef, as well as some tonkatsu broth, some random vegetables, and finally they had plenty of spices and such, as well as the basics. He thought about the ingredients for a couple of moments, before deciding that he was going to do a simple stir fry. Even though stir fry was simple, it was still super tasty, and it was relatively quick. It was nearing lunch time, and so soon they would eat together. They had spent the rest of the morning talking about his training the past few days, and his mother, although worried about him, was also happy that he was training for something greater than himself, so there was a sense of pride in her eyes, and she wondered when he was going to learn the sacred rites. She had been putting it off for a while due to various circumstances, and because Kouma himself said that he wanted to wait until he was slightly more established within the village before doing so, so he was going to wait personally, and now that he was training, his mother decided to bring it up again. He was unsure about when exactly he was going to learn it, but he made a mention that when he received chuunin rank, he would attempt to learn them so that his mother would stop worrying. They then had a peaceful and wonderful lunch of stir fried vegetables and some beef.

They simply chatted while they ate, and it was about normal things, not about the training or Kouma's future as a ninja of the village, but it was more about the weather, and how Kouma's progress was in designing his own puppets, and other things of that nature. They had both wanted to bring the topic back from being heavy and awkward as it was before, and so they simply talked about regular things that they would talk about before he had decided to change the direction of his life and focus really hard on training. After the pleasant meal, Kouma decided that he was going to just relax his body, and head to the water gardens. There, they had a sauna type area, and he thought that sitting in a sauna for a little while would be very relaxing and therapeutic, especially for his beaten down body. He also wanted to relax his mind, as his old man trainer said that he should not focus too hard on increasing his chakra capacity or his his control, as the mind was considered a muscle just as the area of his body, so he really should give that a well deserved break as well, even though it was not worked as hard as his body, it could not be worked as hard as the body either, as injuries or stress to the brain was nearly impossible to cure at the moment, at least for their level of authority in the village. Kouma made his way to the sauna in the water gardens, and this time he was a bit brighter and less of a dead zombie type person as he was yesterday, so he got almost no weird stares as he walked up to the building. This building actually also had services for massages, acupuncture, and other various health services, including what could be considered a gym for people who were not ninja, but the service he was interested in today was definitely the sauna.

He paid at the counter and then walked over to the room after greeting the beautiful lady at the counter. He was a bit flustered when it came to beautiful women, and he had a weird sort of reaction when she told him to undress before getting into the sauna, but he simply shook those thoughts out of his head before heading into the small room off to the side. It was a changing room with a mirror and a bench, and nothing else. They were set up as stalls, but they were very close together, so one might be able to hear the person next to them shuffling around with their clothing, which gave Kouma a feeling of having less privacy than normal, and he quickly disrobed and put a towel around his body. He went to a wall of lockers they had off to the side, before placing all of this things in the one designated for him and locking it. The service member at the counter would come and unlock it to give him back his things at the end of his time there, and so he had nothing to worry about, not that his clothing were anything valuable or anything, but he still liked them, especially because his mother had patched them up a few times, she knew how to sew very well. Kouma made his way to one of the rooms that was marked as a sauna before quickly pushing the door open and closing it rapidly behind him, as he was warned that if he did not do this, the warm and humid air of the sauna would leave very rapidly, so he did so as to not make the other customers cold as they were enjoying the sauna. The rooms were separated between men and women, so he was in a men's sauna, and there were a couple of middle age gentlemen in there already, which basically just looked over to him for but a mere moment before leaning their heads back and closing their eyes, seemingly basking in the comfort of the warmth in the sauna.

Since they did not really talk to him and seemed to be wanting to left alone, so Kouma wanted to make sure he did not disturb them, and sat on one of the bamboo benches in the area. It was rather nice and cozy in there, but there were plenty of places to sit where you would not be intruding on another person's personal space, and Kouma was enjoying stretching out a bit and relaxing. He was not even thinking about anything, as he had simply emptied his head of all troublesome thoughts and just sat back and relaxed by himself. The only time that the relaxation was interrupted was every once in a while, when one of the staff members would come in and pour some spring water on the burning colas of the brazier in the center of the room, washing the area with the thick mist and higher humidity and warmth. It was very comfortable in there, so much so that him and the two older gentlemen soon shared what was essentially a bed room, as each of them had drifted off into a very good sleep. They would wake up some times when the worker came to do their thing every once in a while, but that was about it. They each got a fantastic nap, as about an hour later from when Kouma came in to the sauna room, a worker came and told him that the time he paid for was just about up. Kouma got up and stretched, nodded to the worker, and then walked out. He made sure to bow to the older gentlemen, as he had a great deal of respect for his elders, before leaving. He felt great, and completely refreshed after the trip to the sauna, and there was something generally alright with him simply walking back to his locker with nothing but a towel on. He did not feel that cold, and he was was simply talking to the woman at the counter, and she walked over to his locker and gave him his things back.

He simply got dressed and walked out of the building, and it was still slightly in the after noon, so outside was still a bit warm, so his walk home was quite comfortable. He was simply going to sit at home and enjoy his mothers company, maybe play some games with her such as go or shogi, and then head to sleep. He did indeed have to get ready for the continuation of the harsh training that he was going to undergo the very next day. Kouma did not dread the thought, however, he knew that as long as he continued on this particular path, he would definitely continue getting stronger and getting used to the training, and continue becoming stronger. He was happy to do so as well, as he actually loved the feeling of training and getting stronger. He also could not wait for the ability and opportunity to train and work with the other genin of the village. This would have to wait until he actually had a bit of skill in puppetry, and he would need to get his own puppet soon. Kouma had finally gotten home, as he was casually walking as he felt very comfortable all over his body. He had not been this comfortable in quite a while, as the training plus the relaxation had essentially reset his mind and body, allowing him to feel extremely at peace. He got home and immediately walked over to his couch in the small den and sat down. His mother, who was sitting in her bed had heard him come home, and asked if it was him, and to help her to the living room. So, Kouma walked into the bedroom where his mother was staying, and she was sitting there upright in her bed with a big smile on her face. Kouma could not help but smile as well at the sight of his mother, and walked over there to hug her, and take her to the den and the couch. They enjoyed a bit of shogi before she asked him to go and pick up some food for dinner. He was fine with this, and she said that she would simply be here with her cane, which she used in place of her missing leg, so that she could get around, but she liked relying on Kouma to help her around the house, even though she did not need it most of the time.

Kouma then started to walk swiftly out of his house and towards the market area of the village, where he could buy fairly fresh ingredients for dinner tonight. He had used most of the left overs, but there was still the left over chicken pieces in the house, so he would walk around and look for things that would compliment chicken. He had rice at home, so he was going to go and grab some fresh herbs and some lime, he was thinking, as simply mixing some herbs with the rice would compliment the flavor of the chicken, and then all he needed was some fresh vegetables to go with the dish, and some sort of sauce. Kouma really enjoyed the art of cooking, and he was pretty good at it, even though one would not call him a professional at all, he was still adept enough to where most people would not complain about his cooking. Kouma wandered the stands, and the people working the stand knew of him, and called out to him. He constantly got discounts because he would always talk nicely about his mother, and the pure hearted emotions he would give off to the merchants there made them feel great, and they loved giving him a little bit extra so that he could make his disabled mother happy. Kouma loved that there was such a loving and powerful community built around food, and he liked being a part of it. After conversing with the people of the markets and then heading home with his ingredients, he was in a great mood. He sort of did not want this day to end, as he was simply having a good life with his mother, but all good things had to come to an end, and they would need to work through the hard ships to find the happy parts. During dinner, Kouma was now concentrating on his current training gains, and trying to interpret what he was doing wrong, and what he had gotten correct. He had only trained for a few days, but this was a very powerful experience for him, and he was currently digesting the information and the training areas, and his mind was very clear due to the relaxation, so he was getting a lot of new inspirations for his future training and what sort of puppet he wanted. After this, the only thing that he needed to do was to prepare his mind for the next morning, when this intense training would continue, and he would have to repeat all of these things for a while, but making this a routine seemed fine enough on its own.

EXIT
WC 10,025
Claiming 25 vigor
Claiming 40 speed
After this I am max stats, meaning the remaining 3500 words will net me 70 ap
Claiming Tika Tika for 4900 words
Claiming Itemcrafting for 2000 words
Claiming Chakra Infusion for 2000 words
Claiming Earth Wall with 1100 words, C rank earned

Approved, you mad man